This blog follows the progress of Milo & Madeline Stiles, born in June 2008 at 25 weeks, 2 days gestation, for their friends and family and anyone else who'd like to know about life with premature kids.
Please visit http://www.altabatessummit.org/nicuedu/fac.html and consider making a donation to assist NICU families at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Milo's Makes the Growth Chart & a Farewell to Friends

Here's a pleasant follow-up to our last post. As you may recall, our slim hero weighed in at just 28 pounds (clothed). That's roughly the same weight he was almost a year ago. Since he has a reasonably healthy appetite, this raised concerns about possible Cystic Fibrosis. Luckily, tests came negative, but the question remained: Why's Milo so skinny? We met with Milo's doctor at the end of April and apparently making the appointment was enough to solve the problem. During the visit Milo weighed in at just over 31 lbs. and was 38.75" tall. That's enough to place him in the 25th and 45th percentile, respectively, in both categories for his age. (If you're interested in taking a closer look, you can find the comparative growth chart here.) Though, it's worth noting that most of the other calculators all come up with differing numbers. The stats above came from our pediatrician -- some fairly reputable sites with growth calculators place him lower, about 15th and 25th (or so). Regardless, it's good news and we'll take it.

What's the secret? Hard to say... Of late I've taken to making the boy Ovaltine with whole milk and half and half. That seems to be helping. Yeah, it's high in sugar, but it's also high in fat, protein, calcium, and a list of other good stuff that the kid needs more of. I had practically forgotten about the existence of Ovaltine, but a friend in New Zealand sent us a big tin of a drink called "Milo," which as it turns out is the down under version of Ovaltine, more or less. (Though there is a hot internet debate about the differences between the two. I'd pick Milo over Ovaltine base the name alone, but Milo is hard to come by in the U.S.) I also use the low sugar version of Carnation Instant Breakfast Drink with success.

Daredevil Maddy - April 2012

The little girl has Moxy. She will generally attempt to climb to the highest point of every play structure we visit, and I usually have to remind her not to jump. She's been doing quite well of late, and during a recent parent teacher meeting, her teacher suggested it may be time to reassess her. You might recall that Maddy & Milo are both enrolled in a special pre-school program where they get pretty significant hands-on instruction, as well as occupational and speech therapy. At this point, Maddy is functional at her age level and beyond. She will still need some speech therapy to assist with her Janis Joplin voice and some OT as well, but she can get that in a mainstream pre-school program.

Milo is also doing very well overall and has made huge progress. He's still having trouble with speech, particularly answering "why" questions. For example, if you ask Milo why he likes to jump, he might say something like, "Well, you see, the caterpillar likes to eat pie and ice cream and salami and apples..." Essentially, he's quoting sections from the "Very Hungry Caterpillar." The good news is that he actually plays very well with other kids his age and he is ahead of his peers in a few other areas. He'll need another year of his present classroom for the added support, but that's no surprise. Frankly, we thought Maddy would too.

Easter - 2012.

Unfortunately Dad was away for a month during the Easter holiday attending training for work on the East Coast. The kids got to dress up and hunt Easter eggs with Mom and friends.

Oakland Zoo - April 2012

Oakland Zoo - April 2012

The kids bid farewell to Dad's beloved Necky Chronic - April 2012

For those of my paddling buds who follow the blog, you will be stunned to know that I've finally parted with the beloved Necky. It was probably the greatest playboat I ever owned and I've owned it longer than any other kayak -- since 2004. Alas, it was getting old and since I've put on about 20 pounds since I bought it, I'm just too big for it. Milo loved it because it was red. Out with the old...

M & M - Earth Day Festival, Alameda, April 2012.

The kids have come around to liking ice cream in a big way -- surprise, surprise. They were giving out free cones of green ice cream during the festival and the kids did nice job of polishing them off. By the way, the pictures above do a great job of illustrating the differences between the way the kids eat. Milo is very neat -- when he finishes a meal, his hands are clean and there usually isn't much mess anywhere. With Maddy, a hose is often needed. A powerful hose. I sincerely hope she eats this way on her first date.

Rockin' out! The kids still love music. Birthdays are coming up and I'm actually pretty tempted to buy them one of those DeRosa kids drum sets. Maybe in a year or two we'll look at some guitar lessons. For now, strumming along is good enough.

Maddy and Rea - 06 May 2012.

One of the tough parts about military service is that either you or a large number of your friends move to a new duty station each year. This year, several of the kids' pals will be headed to a new part of the country. Maddy and her friend Rea got to know each other pretty well this past year. Hopefully we'll get assigned together again soon.

Giada, Milo, Rea, & Maddy together for the last time for a while. 06 May 2012.

The kids will also be saying good-bye to a few other friends this summer as they move on. It looks like next year will be our turn to move on. Hopefully we'll land in the northeast and reconnect with old friends there.

3 comments:

Hi Rob, Elaine, M&M, Thanks so much for updating the blog, I really love reading it and it seems like fantastic news for the kids. Go M&M! Hope the news keeps getting better. Best wishes, Michael, Rachel and the bump aka Poppy/Maxi

Why thank you Michael. I actually had to go back in and make a few edits, and you made me recall that the Milo Dylan sent was actually what got me onto the Ovaltine train with the little guy. Dylan sent us a big tin, and once M&M polished it off, we had to switch to Ovaltine. I'll have to look for Milo again.